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queens in hair rollers

I have raised a few queens, using the nicot system, my question is I put the hair rollers over the queen cells in the cell builder before they emerged, checked them and a couple have hatched and are held in the hair rollers so they can't be killed by other queens, how long can they stay in their cages in the cell builder after they hatch ? will workers feed several new queens in cages or only pick one ?

Re: queens in hair rollers

They need to get mated. Also, the bees may decide to dispose of them or may not take good care of them since they aren't mated queens. I would introduce them to mating nucs ASAP. In theory you can keep them about two weeks. That only gives them one week to mate before they turn into drone layers.

Re: queens in hair rollers

Originally Posted by Michael Bush

They need to get mated. Also, the bees may decide to dispose of them or may not take good care of them since they aren't mated queens. I would introduce them to mating nucs ASAP. In theory you can keep them about two weeks. That only gives them one week to mate before they turn into drone layers.

Thanks for the info, I was also waiting for an answer to the question.............

Re: queens in hair rollers

They need to be fed. You can make candy by powdering sugar in a blender and mixing it with honey until it becomes like dough. Put a small ball in each cage. Attendants are helpful as well. You also need to remove the remnants of the queen cell. The queens will sometimes get lodged back in the cell or between the cell and the cage wall. You'll have to introduce them as you would normally introduce a queen. The clock is ticking as they need to be mated as others have noted.